WASHINGTON — Former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot at a 2011 constituent meeting in Tucson, had a short but direct statement for her former colleagues Monday in response to Sunday night's mass shooting in Las Vegas.

"The nation's counting on you," she said in her only remarks at a news conference before turning and pointing her fist at the U.S. Capitol behind her.

Earlier, the Arizona Democrat issued a statement calling on members of Congress once again to have the "courage" to address gun violence.

Giffords said in a statement, "I know this feeling of heartbreak and horror too well," adding that that she prays for the victims, their families and friends — as well as her former colleagues.

"I am praying they find the courage it will take to make progress on the challenging issue of gun violence," she said. "I know they got into politics for the same reason I did — to make a difference, to get things done. Now is the time to take positive action to keep America safer. Do not wait. The nation is counting on you.”

Giffords' husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, said he and his wife are "heartbroken" and "angry," and the "thoughts and prayers" being offered by the White House and members of Congress aren't enough.

"Your thoughts and prayers aren’t going to stop the next shooting," Kelly said. "Only actions and leadership will do that."

Democrats joined the call for new congressional action on guns, led by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., whose statement saying "It's time for Congress to get off its ass and do something" generated a firestorm on social media.

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A concertgoer captured the moment a gunman opened fire on an outdoor music festival on the Las Vegas Strip, killing scores of people and wounding hundreds of others. Country music star Jason Aldean was performing when the gunfire began.
AP

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the Senate Judiciary Committee's top-ranking Democrat, told USA TODAY she expects to join some of her colleagues next week to discuss next steps.

"This incident is so terrible and so many people’s lives are lost, and for anybody to have this stack of weaponry, automatic, really, weapons of war that can fire 400 yards and kill people, some of us are going to next week hopefully get together and talk a little bit about this," the California senator said. "But right now, I think we’re all in shock."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, urged House Speaker Paul Ryan in a letter to create a select committee on gun violence, writing that Congress has a "moral duty" to act.

"Today is a day for prayer, mourning and love, but it must also be a day for action," the California Democrat wrote. "As members of Congress, our words of comfort to the families of the victims of the Las Vegas massacre will ring hollow unless we take long overdue action to ensure that no other family is forced to endure such an unimaginable tragedy.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee announced it would begin sending fundraising emails to its 1 million members for lawmakers who "stand up" to the National Rifle Association.

The 2011 shooting at Giffords’ “Congress on your Corner” event killed six of her constituents and wounded 12 others. It was the first assassination attempt on a member of Congress meeting with constituents.

Giffords and Kelly, who are both gun owners, co-founded the gun-control group Americans for Responsible Solutions.

As a first step, Kelly called for Congress to appoint a bipartisan special commission on gun violence. He said Congress should also push for universal background checks, stop domestic abusers from getting guns and subject the sale of the most lethal weapons to stronger oversight and regulations.

Kelly said Congress has done nothing to respond to gun violence and instead is working on legislation to weaken gun laws. One NRA-backed measure moving through Congress would make it easier to get "silencers" by removing them from the National Firearms Act. They would still have to pass an instant background check, as they would with any firearm.

Guns equipped with "silencers" still make a loud blast, but gun-control groups say suppressing a gun's noise won't help alert people to run in the event of a crime. They argue the silencer measure would allow dangerous people to buy silencers without a background check, just by finding an unlicensed seller.

"Imagine how much worse last night’s shooting could have been if this gunman had a silencer?" Kelly said. "Imagine the confusion for first responders if they arrived on the scene to a bunch of civilians wielding their own guns, attempting to return fire?"

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A family grieves during a candlelight vigil for Charleston Hartfield at Police Memorial Park. Hartfield, an off-duty Las Vegas police officer, was killed Sunday during the mass shooting at a music festival across from the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY

Sherri Camperchioli and Jordan Cassel, volunteers from Las Vegas, staple photos of the mass shooting victims on crosses artist Greg Zanis of Aurora, Ill., constructed. He drove across the country to install them on Las Vegas Boulevard to honor the people killed in the mass shooting. Zanis said he has created crosses for many national tragedies.
Tom Tingle, USA TODAY Network

Jean Green Dunbar of Las Vegas plants shrubs at the Las Vegas Community Healing Garden in the Arts District of Las Vegas Oct. 5. The garden is intended to help the city heal from the massacre that happened Sunday.
Tom Tingle, The Arizona Republic via the USA TODAY Network

Jeanne Belez of Marysville, Ore. places a bouquet of flowers at a memorial on a median on Las Vegas Blvd. near the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on Oct. 4, 2017.
Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY

Arizona Diamondbacks remember their former employee Christiana Duarte, who was killed this week in the Las Vegas shooting during pregame ceremonies of the National League Wild Card game on Oct. 4, 2017 in Phoenix, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher, The Arizona Republic, via USA TODAY NETWORK

Crystal Fernandez, left, and Carmen Arias share a moment at a memorial that sprung up on a median on Las Vegas Blvd. near the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on Oct. 4, 2017.
Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY

Linda Proctor hugs Dr. Robert T. Baggott as her husband, Donnie Proctor, waits to the right during a memorial at Community Church of Vero Beach, Fla. on Oct. 4, 2017, for those who died in the mass shooting in Las Vegas.
Jeremiah Wilson, TCPalm, via USA TODAY NETWORK

President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania arrive at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. . President Trump is planning on meeting victims of Sunday's mass shooting.
Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY

With the lights of the Las Vegas Strip as a backdrop, people gathered on a vacant lot on Las Vegas Blvd. for a candlelight vigil in the memory of the victims of the Mandalay Bay mass shooting, Oct. 2, 2017.
Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY

Michael Kordich, 34, a firefighter with the San Bernardino County Fire Dept., performed CPR on a fellow concert goer who had been shot, before Kordich himself was shot in the arm during the Las Vegas massacre. He talks about the life-changing events from his hospital bed at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, Oct. 3, 2017.
Tom Tingle, The Arizona Republic via the USA TODAY Network

Sara Rivero, on right, with her mom Laura Rodriguez, in center and Gisell Rivera, her step mother, burn a candle at the memorial site on Las Vegas Blvd, for friends who died at the concert.
Nick Oza, The Arizona Republic via the USA TODAY Network

Members of the Las Vegas community pray during an emotional vigil for the victims of the Las Vegas shooting at Mountain Crest Park, Oct. 3, 2017.
Jay Calderon, The Desert Sun Via the USA TODAY Nertwork

Matthew Edwards puts a teddy bear and flowers at the memorial site. When asked about his feelings he said "I cannot understand what has happened here... what would drive a man to do what he did"
Nick Oza, The Arizona Republic via the USA TODAY Network

With the lights of the Las Vegas Strip as a backdrop, people gathered on a vacant lot on Las Vegas Blvd. for a candlelight vigil in the memory of the victims of the Mandalay Bay mass shooting, Oct. 2, 2017.
Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY

People gather at Trocadero plaza as the lights of the Eiffel tower are turned off, in Paris on Oct. 2, 2017. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said the Eiffel tower will turn off its lights to pay tribute to Las Vegas and Marseille victims.
Kamil Zihnioglu, AP

The American flag is at half-staff at the White House in Washington on Oct. 2, 2017. President Donald Trump ordered that flags be lowered at all government buildings to honor the victims of the mass shooting in Las Vegas.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP

People walks past flowers left on a pedestrian bridge overlooking Las Vegas Blvd. in Las Vegas on Oct. 2, 2017, two blocks from the Mandalay Bay Hotel Casino where a gunman killed dozens and injured hundreds of people attending a concert.
Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY

Broken windows are seen on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino after a lone gunman opened fired on the Route 91 Harvest country music festival on Oct. 2, 2017, in Las Vegas.
David Becker, Getty Images

An injured person is tended to in the intersection of Tropicana Ave. and Las Vegas Boulevard after a mass shooting at a country music festival nearby on October 2, 2017 in Las Vegas.
Ethan Miller, Getty Images

A woman sits on a curb at the scene of a shooting outside of a music festival along the Las Vegas Strip, Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, in Las Vegas. Multiple victims were being transported to hospitals.
John Locher, AP

People are searched by Las Vegas police at the Tropicana Las Vegas during an active shooter situation on the Las Vegas Strip. Multiple victims were being transported to hospitals after a shooting late Sunday at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip.
Chase Stevens, Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP

A Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer stands in the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Ave. after a mass shooting at a country music festival nearby on October 2, 2017 in Las Vegas.
Ethan Miller, Getty Images

People take cover at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after apparent gun fire was heard on October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. There are reports of an active shooter around the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
David Becker, Getty Images